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Saturday, November 30, 2013

Leaders
don’t all walk and talk the same. Staying true to one’s culture is integral to
empowered leadership.

Li
Huang vividly recalls her first impression of a particular junior-high English
teacher in her native city of Xi’an, China.

On
the first day of class, Li says, the foreign-born teacher “sat down, putting
his feet up on the desk…” In talking with the teacher months later, she found
out that, although committing an obvious Westerners’ faux pas in the eyes of
his East Asian students, “He felt a great sense of authority when he was
striking that pose.”

Now
an Assistant Professor of Organisational Behaviour at INSEAD, Li says in
addition to shaping our standing in the eyes of others, how we carry ourselves
can affect whether we feel in control in many life situations. “The mind and
body are so closely tied together,” she argued in an interview with INSEAD
Knowledge. “They work in tandem; they have a reciprocal relationship. And body
postures can actually lead to neural-endocrine shifts such as increased
testosterone and decreased cortisol as well as have a causal impact on how we
feel and act.”

Researchers
argue the link between physicality and feelings of power has an evolutionary
component, citing the expansive postures associated with dominance among
several species in the animal kingdom. But for Li, culture plays a critical yet
often-overlooked role. As leadership researchers and practitioners have
come to realise in the last few decades, physical gestures meant to convey
leadership in one cultural context can undermine one’s authority in another.
For example, Li’s English teacher later discovered to his dismay and surprise
that, instead of thinking he was very teacher-like, Li and her classmates thought,
“‘He’s such a big kid.’ Acting in a very rude and haphazard way.”

More
important, just as the body language of leadership sometimes sends drastically
different messages to audiences with different cultural upbringings, Li argues,
body postures do not always shape leaders’ thoughts and actions in a universal
way either. East Asians striking a feet-on-the-desk pose would not only appear
overly casual and even arrogant to other East Asians but may also fail to draw
the same sense of power from the posture as the foreign teacher. In other
words, if leaders aren’t careful, not only could their attempts to cut a
commanding figure get lost in translation, they might actually make themselves
feel less powerful too.

Li
and her collaborators administered a series of studies where participants of
Western and East Asian descent were instructed to hold a range of postures that
“were being pilot-tested for a separate study”, and immediately afterwards
underwent tests designed to measure how powerful they felt and how inclined
they were to take decisive action. As Li expected, both Westerners and East
Asians experienced a greater sense of power after striking most of the more
expansive poses (e.g., leaning forward with both hands spread out on a desk),
than after adopting a more constrictive attitude (sitting with hands tucked
underneath their thighs).

However,
the two cultures parted ways on perhaps the most expansive pose of all: leaning
back in a chair with both feet propped up on a desk, just like Li’s English
teacher. For Westerners, the extremely casual but dominant pose appeared to
serve as a confidence booster, sending power indicators shooting up. For East
Asians, it had the opposite effect, leaving them feeling even less powerful
than the constrictive posture.

Pride versus Humility

Li
attributes these results to a divergence in Western and East Asian cultural
norms. “In Western cultures, the self is construed as independent, unique and
separate from others,” the paper states. “In contrast, East Asian philosophies
such as Confucianism and Buddhism conceptualise the self as inherently
interconnected and interdependent with others.” This fundamental distinction
means leaders from the two cultures are likely to conduct themselves very
differently in certain situations: compare the modest posture of Toyota’s CEO
Aiko Toyoda to the triumphant stance of GM chief Daniel Akerson. It also means
that the same posture may lead to different neural-endocrine responses,
feelings, cognitions, and behaviours in leaders from the two cultures.

Indeed,
when self-assertion appears to cross over into arrogance, East Asians see it as
a violation of their cultural norms of self-restraint, and their sense of power
withers as a result.

Li
is quick to point out that all the experiments for the paper were conducted in
the United States. “Even though [the participants] were in a Western context,
the cultural values that they were raised on were still very much an integral
part of their cognitive structure,” she said. This suggests that even among
multiculturals, the norms of one’s original culture inform ideas about what
constitutes “proper” conduct for leaders and to act against these values by
adopting certain body postures can create negative feelings and actions.

The Expansive Perspective

Why
do feelings of power matter? Do they impact work performance as well as
perception? Extrapolating from her findings, Li said, “Another very important
cognitive consequence of the psychological experience of power is the ability
to see the big picture, seeing the forest for the trees. Since we find a
consistent effect of these culture norms and postures on [to what extent you
feel powerful and to what extent you take action], [posture and culture] may
also interact to affect to what extent you’re likely to see the big picture.
[They can influence your] having a more overall view of the strategic issues
you have on hand and [your understanding] of where the company’s going as
opposed to the nitty-gritty [operational perspective].There are so many
consequences of power that we can derive from our conclusions based on these
findings.”

So
perhaps in today’s globalised workplace there is a danger for multicultural
leaders in going completely native, when doing so would quite literally place
them in a culturally compromising position. Li’s foreign teacher might not have
felt so empowered if he’d been asked to exchange bows with students as many
East Asian teachers do. By the same token, for a Houston office to expect an
executive from Taiwan to adopt a Texan swagger in order to “fit in” could
violate the sense of cultural integrity that executive needs to feel confident
and perform at his best.

At
the same time, leaders must temper diversity with civility to avoid treading on
another culture’s toes. “We have to pay attention to the symbolic meaning of
our postures, of our motor movements in a particular society and context. Not
just culture, but even social context,” Li said.

If
you are good at expressing yourself outwardly — either through a creative
pursuit or by speaking your heart out — it will free your mind and connect you
to the here and now

Do you realise that almost everything we do is a form
of creative expression of our inner self? Each of us has aspirations, dreams
and desires, not all of which have found their way into reality. And yet this
inner self peeps out, it paces around within us, chaffing against the confines
– seeking an outlet, a creative expression.
People express themselves through creative forms such
as writing, music, theatre, painting and dance. Almost everything we do, say or
think is a form of self-expression that reveals a lot about us.
Our imagination and the flights of fancy it takes in
the form of fantasies is also a creative form of our self-expression, known to
us alone, unless we choose to share it. Fantasies play an important role in
revealing to us our innermost desires and also help us visualise goals and
aspirations. These then, when tempered with reality, become the goalposts we
strive towards. The ability to use imagination and suspend reality also helps
us enjoy fiction, movies and theatre with keenness.
Even as a man watches cricket, it is a form of
selfexpression as he aligns himself with one team and totally identifies with
them in his desire to compete and win. The vicarious victory is an important
element of his self-expression and a balm to his ego. Another person may
express himself through the food he cooks or a dress he designs. A poet, in his
poetry; a singer in his song.
As desires and aspirations grow, fed upon an explosion
of available choices and exposure to success stories, the average middle-class
finds itself able to think and fantasise about much bigger things. The 70-inch
wall mounted TV no longer seems that distant a possibility, nor does ownership
of a dream house, a luxury car or a world cruise. All this helps give
expression to our desire for material acquisitions and expansion. Along with
this, the fantasies embrace other modes of happiness, such as romance, love and
relationships.
Says Dr Deepak Raheja, psychiatrist and director, Hope
Foundation, “When we talk of expressing ourselves, we are referring to our
ability to sublimate the libidinal energy, which as Sigmund Freud says, is the
basis of all biological fuels that drive us. For a long time, we have forgotten
to sublimate this energy into creative expression. Today, we find more and more
people able to do so. If the gap between the real and the fantasized self
increases, it increases frustration in life. Self-expression helps us feel more
complete and helps bridge the gap between the real and the imagined self. This
brings us to a more philosophical and spiritual fulfillment.”
How does expressing yourself help you? Expressing your
inner self through various means gives you an opportunity to sublimate your
impulses into identifying with something that gives you catharsis. Expression
gets us into a consistent tranquillity, explains Dr Raheja. If we are good at
expressing ourselves outwardly, thus allowing bits of our inner self to find
real expression, this helps bring us to a state of what Dr Raheja calls
“consistent bliss and tranquillity”. This naturally then helps us in real life
as well. Because now the state from which you will approach all your mundane
tasks and even your critical business decisions, is a more consolidated,
tranquil one. The big difference is that now, apart from giving importance to
material acquisitions, you have also simultaneously learnt to be happy. And in
that state of tranquility, you are able to see your circumstances more
realistically since you are better able to connect to the here and now.
Creative expression brings about changes in the brain.
Research has quantified those changes. It helps the brain move to a meditative
state from where we are able to act in a state of calm that helps us
synchronise our actions better; what occurs is a convergence of energy . This
convergence leads us to a state of consistent bliss and this bliss eventually
begins to make the difference in our everyday living and is what eludes us,
almost like a butterfly we are chasing, which at will may come and perch on our
shoulder, suggests Dr Raheja poetically.
Self-expression is a way of beating stress, detaching
yourself from the burnouts of day-to-day reality. It is a self-defence
mechanism where we let ourselves go into a state of meditation and return healed.
So then, what is your favourite mode of
self-expression? Is it to talk aloud, listen to music, garden, play tennis,
indulge in charity, paint or to write? Or, is fantasy your favourite way to
express your innermost being?

Spices
Board starts selling chocolates infused with chilli, cardamom, cloves,
cinnamon and cumin in Kochi; to rope in partner for the venture

Nuts and raisin are passe. Chocolate connoisseurs can now satisfy their
sweet cravings by indulging in chocolates laced with traditional Indian
spices. Chilli, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and cumin could be some of the
flavours targetted at the niche customers and the hospitality sector.
The Spices Board of India is currently selling flavoured chocolates in
Kochi and is scouting for a partner to venture into mass production. Other
regional chocolatiers see a growing demand by expats and NRIs.
Sale of spice-flavored chocolates in gift boxes has just started at the
Board’s signature store ‘Spices India’ at Lulu Mall in Kochi. The
chocolates are sold under its popular ‘flavourit’ brand at . 900 for a
180-gm pack.
A Jayathilak, chairman of the Spices Board, said the outlet is a pilot project
with various valueadded products including the spice-flavoured chocolates.
“Depending on the success of this stall, the Board may go for more outlets
across the country and in overseas as well,” he said.
A person in the design and development of the spice-flavoured chocolate
said there is much more to spices than its use in cooking. “By coming up
with these chocolates, we aim to increase the consumption of spices and
bring the global experience to Indians,” he said, acknowledging that they
were in talks with a leading domestic chocolate manufacturer. The industry
pegs the chocolate market at . 5,000 crore with an annual growth of 15%.
Increasing purchasing power and gifting trend in the country are expected
to boost the market. The flavoured chocolates remain a niche product with
global players like Lindt, Heidi, Torres, Valor, Whittakers selling various
flavours at specialty stores and airports. Globally, chocolates with
flavours of salty cashew nuts, beef, bacon, barbequed potato chips, peanut
butter, banana are popular.
“There is a particular segment of consumers who prefer flavoured
chocolates. We produce cardamom and orange-flavoured chocolates to cater to
this growing segment. Overall, the demand for chocolates is moving up by
20-25 % a year,” said Suresh Bhandary, MD at Mangalore-based Central
Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Co-operative (Campco). Campco,
which markets chocolates in its own brand, plans to raise its annual
chocolate production capacity to 21,000 tonne by 2015 to meet the growing
consumption of chocolates.
“Demand is coming from fivestar hotels, corporates and a niche client
segment. Just like cheese and wine, flavoured chocolates are an emerging
market which will grow with the expansion of modern retail and confectionary
shops,” said Renny Jacob, MD, Cacobean Chocolatier. The cocoa supplier to
Cadbury India and chocolate manufacturer for Spices Board, Starbucks, Café
Coffee Day, Costa Coffee and supermarket chain Metro cash and carry is
currently having a cacpity to manufacture one tonne per day.
Discerning customers, largely expats and NRIs, are also driving the demand
for new flavours, said Nikhil Mittal, a leading chocolate manufacturer in
Chandigarh.
His recent order for an NRI groom was chocolate flavoured with vodka and
chilli to be gifted along with the wedding cards.
“A national player who introduces these varied flavours might bring
products at a competitive price as limited orders ensure that these
value-added chocolates’ prices remain high at . 2,000 a kg compared to .
500-1,000 of normal chocolate,” said Mittal.
Gourmet chocolate manufacturers rue that the country has not been able to
cash-in on the advantage of its natural resources and flavours to market it
globally. “Chilli chocolate is synonymous with luxury swiss chocolate
company Lindt and coconut chocolate by American chocolate brand Bounty.
None of the raw material is grown in their country. A chocolate with paan
can be an Indian specialty for at least domestic taste buds,” added Jacob.

Despite
a sluggish economy and terrible infrastructure, India is an alluring
challenge for people returning as entrepreneurs to their motherland

Turning their back on the American Dream has proven
to be a fortuitous decision for a number of technology entrepreneurs who are
crafting multimillion-dollar businesses within a few years of returning to
India. Mostly in their early thirties, these highly-skilled professionals are
building ventures that focus on the Indian market and offer a range of
services from online retail to car-rental services, telephony products and
refurbishment of used electronic products. “It’s like when people climb the
Everest or go to the North Pole. There is a sense of achievement in coming
back to India and participating in this unimaginable growth,” said Ambarish
Gupta, who gave up a career at Microsoft to build a cloud-based telephony
product in India. While he was still plotting a comeback, Gupta, 36,
convinced his IIT-Kanpur batchmate Pallav Pandey to join him. He worked
after-hours to build a prototype and landed in India convinced about its
potential. It is an assessment by the former McKinsey consultant that has proven
to be correct. This fiscal, Knowlarity, which has received venture funding
from Sequoia Capital, is slated to earn revenue of 60 crore. And the
Gurgaon-based company boasts a roster of clients including Medanta Medicity,
Dr Lal Path Labs and Jeevansathi.com. “I am unwilling to accept a broken system, there is an
oppurtunity to to fix everything,” said Gupta, who plans to return the
coveted US Green Card, next year as he puts down permanent roots in his
native country. Land of opportunity For a number of others, too, India is proving to be the land of
opportunity. Among those creating companies that cater to the rising demand
from an expanding middle-class are Kunal Bahl of online marketplace Snapdeal,
Hitendra Chaturvedi of electronic refurbishment venture Reverse Logistics
Company and Gaurav Aggarwal of Savaari Car Rentals. “If you can do business
in India, you can do it anywhere else in the world,” said Chaturvedi, a US
citizen who was posted to India by Microsoft in 2006. He came with plans of
returning in two years but never did. Instead, spotting an opportunity in
selling refurbished seconds from major electronic brands, Chaturvedi launched
Reverse Logistics, which sells these products through an online portal
GreenDust as well as through offline stores. The Delhi- based firm expects to
double revenue to 500 crore by the end of next year. Such strong growth has
also attracted the attention of investors. Last year, Vertex Ventures,
Sherpalo Ventures and Kleiner Perkins together invested 171 crore in the
company. Global experience The combination of global work experience and an understanding of the
local market is driving the success of these professionals. Venture capital
firm Canaan Partners, which recently completed a study of funding patterns in
India’s startup sector, found that almost one-third of companies that raise
capital are launched by entrepreneurs who have returned to India with at
least three years of international experience. “A slowdown in the west has
proven to be a blessing in disguise as we now have a skilled pool of people
who have seen technological change at least a decade ahead of India,” said
Rahul Khanna, a managing director at Canaan Partners. “They are not afraid to
wear failure as a badge of honour.” For many of those who return with high
hopes, doing business in India can be a trying experience. “In the first few
months, I was flabbergasted to see a large number of inflated payslips and
forged CVs,’ said Chaturvedi, 43. Swati and Rohan Bhargava, a couple who
moved from London to Gurgaon this year to start Cashkaro, a cashback and discount
coupons startup, discovered soon that infrastructure issues such as poor
internet connectivity can be a drag on business. “We have four internet
connections and all of them trip several times a day,” said Swati Bhargava,
30, a former Goldman Sachs executive. “The documentation to create a
subsidiary is also a nightmare,” said Rohan Bhargava, 32. CashKaro has
received about $750,000 ( 4.6 crore) as angel investment from UK investors
this year. Ample support For those willing to stay the course, there is enough money and mentoring
to see them through, apart from the lure of the market itself. IIT Delhi
graduates Sameer Maheshwari, 37, and Prashant Tandon, 33, returned to India
from the United States to start Healthchakra. com, a startup focused on scheduling
medical appointments. “After six months we started wondering whether we had
taken the right decision to return,” said Maheshwari, who found their
business was stagnating. They turned to a few mentors to help them through
the rough patch and changed their business model to ecommerce. The pivoted
company, now known as Healthkart.com, has raised close to $22.5 million ( 140 crore) from a
group of investors including Intel Capital, Sequoia Capital and Omidyar
Networks. Red tape For many technology professionals, a tough visa regime in the US is also
a reason for returning. Many aspiring entrepreneurs are not willing to wait
for a green card or citizenship to start up, as in the case of Snapdeal’s
founder Kunal Bahl. “I was working for Microsoft in the US and they applied
for my work visa, which was rejected. This was a catalyst for me to move back
to India,” said Bahl, 30, who has since built one of India’s most successful
online retail ventures that is estimated to clock turnover of 2,500 crore
this fiscal. “Once you are past the initial stages of friction and have
escape velocity, a startup in India can grow much faster with relatively
lesser competitive dynamics than in the US,” said Bahl. His company has till
now raised a total of $90 million ( 500 crore) in equity capital from a
consortium that includes eBay and Japan’s Recruit Co as well as six venture
funds. Cycle effect As more success stories emerge, the number of Indians keen to return
continues to grow said investors. “But only when they return with their families
to settle here do we take them seriously,” said Ashish Gupta, cofounder of
Helion Venture Partners, who returned in 2005. “It’s the biggest hurdle they
will ever cross in their lives,” said Gupta, who has funded companies such as
internet advertising venture Komli Media. “It has been a crazy ride doing
business every day in India. In the US, I could predict my life and career
with almost 90% accuracy for the next ten years. In India, I can’t predict
even the next six months,” said GreenDust’s Chaturvedi.

The Return of the
Native Startups by Returnees HEALTHKART: Online store for Health and wellness products KNOWLARITY:Cloud Telephony Company SNAPDEAL:Online Marketplace KOMLI MEDIA: Digital media network EXOTEL: Cloud Telephony
Company GREENDUST: Reverse Logistics Start-up for Electronics ATTERO: Electronics Recycling & Management company SAVAARI : Online taxi aggregator CASHKARO: Online cashback & coupons platform FOODPANDA: Online food ordering platform VOTERITE:Online Social media platform for political campaigning The
Reasons To Return: DIGITAL OPPORTUNITY IN INDIA: Internet Subscribers:
205 million
Mobile Subscribers:
900 million
No of Users of Mobile Web: 130 million
ABOUT 90 MILLION FACEBOOK USERS, AND 40 MILLION TWITTER USERS
No. of college going kids that are active Internet users: 60 million APT DEMOGRAPHICS: More than 50% of its population below age of 25 years
More than 65% of population below the age of 35 years
Average age of an Indian will be 29 years in 2020
Indian Middle Class: 300 million people (almost equivalent to size of US
population)
Per Capita Wealth per adult risen from $2000 in 2000 to $4,700 in 2013 MASSIVE TALENT POOL: India graduates 5 lakh engineers per year
Salary for techies India $22,000 per year vs $116,800 in US
Salary for non-tech grads 15k-30k per month SUPER RICH MARKET SIZE: Per Capita Wealth per adult risen from $2000 in 2000 to $4,700 in 2013
2.8 million people have net worth of over $100,000
1,760 ultra high net worth individuals with wealth over $50 million
770 UHNWIs with more than $100 million in India
No of Dollar Millionaires: 180,000
(SOURCE: CREDIT SUISSE, BCG, IAMAI)

Troubles to Expect When You Return:
Poor and Lax Work Ethic & Commitment from employees
Difficulty in Hiring for startups
Corruption not only in Govt but in the private sector
Broken Systems;
Lack of efficiency in basic requirements for a startup
Little funding for start-ups without revenue traction
Poor telecom and broadband infrastructure
High regulations in telecom and financial sector

TIPS TO KEEP IN MIND: Keep a longer term perspective in mind
Relocate with family to display commitment to investors
Don’t compare the West with India on every count
India work culture is seas apart, don’t take recruiting decisions alone